Is Love a Battlefield?
by Number I of the Tri-blade
Summary: Poor Cordelia. She can't seem to get her beloved Chrom to notice her as a woman. Luckily for Cordelia though she is good friends with a tactical mastermind, and love is a battlefield. Right? Cordelia and Robin decide to work together to make Chrom fall in love with her. However, what happens when Robin finds himself falling for Cordelia instead? Rated T for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

"Oh look, she's at it again." Vaike said with a small smirk as he nudged Stahl's arm with his shoulder subtly.

Stahl looked up from his lunch in the direction that Vaike was looking and nodded then replied, "Ah…oh man, poor girl. Well, she has persistence, that's for sure."

"I kinda wish she'd learn when to give up though; maybe then she'd notice there are a lot of other eligible guys around here." Vaike said as he flexed his shoulder and chest muscles proudly.

Stahl laughed a little and commented, "Maybe one day Vaike, maybe one day."

Robin was sitting with them and overheard their conversation, feeling curious as to what they were talking about. He looked at them with a questioning gaze then followed the path of their eyes. The young tactician didn't see anything out of the ordinary though, merely Chrom and more of the Shepherds having their lunch as per usual. What Robin's eyes didn't detect was Cordelia's feeble attempts at garnering Chrom's attention. Perhaps it was because Robin had naïve innocence when it came to women and romance, or maybe it was simply that he was new to the Shepherds, but regardless he was one of the only members of the Shepherds who didn't know about Coredlia's infatuation with Chrom.

The red haired prodigy had made sure to sit with Chrom that day but explained it away by saying she wanted to sit with her good friend, Sumia, who also happened to be holding a torch for their prince. Unfortunately for Cordelia, Sumia had Chrom's full attention at the moment, mostly by filling his mouth with lots of pie. Cordelia considered Sumia to be one of her dearest friends and she knew that Sumia was in love with their prince as well, which put Cordelia in an awkward predicament. Part of her cheered Sumia on while another part considered her a rival which left Coredlia with an empty and rather guilty feeling in her chest.

Cordelia was starting to wonder if she'd ever be able to catch the eye of her beloved prince. It was such an odd feeling for Cordelia to actually fail at something. Ever since she was a little girl Cordelia had possessed a natural ability to succeed if not excel at practically everything she ever attempted, so why was she having so much trouble when it came to romance?

After lunch Cordelia walked in to her tent and picked up a small vanity mirror that was lying on her cot. She picked it up and examined herself in it curiously. Was she not attractive enough? Was she just not Chrom's type? Cordelia wasn't sure, and there was no way she could ask Chrom directly what she thought of him. She'd die of embarrassment if that happened. Cordelia quickly shook these thoughts off; she knew that she would get nowhere if she fell in to self pity. She'd stay determined and refuse to give up on her romantic pursuits. Cordelia did realize one thing though; she had to rethink her strategies. She needed to be smart and tactful in her approach. But for the time being Cordelia felt she'd be better off clearing her mind, perhaps work on something different. That was when Cordelia's eyes noticed the prototype javelin she had crafted about a week before. Cordelia smiled as she picked it up and looked it over with care.

Cordelia exited her tent with the javelin in one hand and a whetstone in the other. She shivered as she felt a frigid wind blow through the camp. They were travelling through the mountains and the cold winter winds were already blowing through now that late autumn had arrived. Cordelia made her way to a camp fire that sat in the middle of the camp to get warmed up and was pleasantly surprised to find Robin sitting there on a nearby log with a book in his hands. She smiled and happily sat right next to the young tactician on the log. Cordelia hadn't known Robin for long but the two of them had quickly become great friends. In fact, aside from Sumia, Robin was Cordelia's closest friend. "Hello Robin, how have you been today?" Cordelia asked with a warm and affectionate smile.

Robin looked up from his book when Cordelia sat next to him and smiled right back at her, brushing some of his dark hair out of his eyes before he replied, "Hi Cordelia, I'm doing well. How are you?"

"I'm..good. Quite good." Cordelia said, she had hesitated at first on account of her troubles with Chrom but she didn't want burden Robin with such things, nor did she want to worry him.

"I see you're hard at work on your javelin again. But I thought you were finished with it." Robin said, trying to make conversation with his dear friend. Robin really liked Cordelia; she had such a warm and sincere personality.

"I thought I was as well, but I've already been thinking of ways I might be able to improve the design." Cordelia explained as she carefully ran the whetstone along the point of the javelin, the tip had become slightly dull since she first crafted it. "Of course, I'd be more than happy for any suggestions you could give. Knowing you, it could only help."

"Heh, well I don't know about that. You know far more about spears and javelins than I do. You also have more experience with them. If anything I'm sure you could teach me." Robin said.

"Hehe, perhaps so. I can teach you sometime, if you'd like." Cordelia offered.

"Thank you, but I think for the moment I'd prefer to just get a better feel for my sword before trying to expand in to other weapons." Robin explained.

"I understand." Cordelia said with a nod but then paused for a moment, quickly thinking to herself. Robin was a very trusted friend, and he was also very close to Chrom. Cordelia hesitated before nervously asking, "Excuse me, Robin, could I ask you something?"

"Of course. Go ahead." Robin said with a small nod.

"But first…promise me that you won't talk to anyone about this. It's just between the two of us." Cordelia requested.

"Sure, that's fine. My lips are sealed." Robin said, now quite curious as to what was on Cordelia's mind.

Cordelia quickly looked around to make sure that no one else was within earshot before she leaned in and quietly asked, "Umm, does Chrom ever talk about me?"

"Talk about you? Like how?" Robin asked, tilting his head to the side a little.

"Just..anything. Does he ever mention me in passing?" Cordelia asked, feeling her cheeks becoming redder by the second.

"No, not you particularly. I mean, he talks about everyone when we're conducting battle strategies." Robin answered.

"Oh…I see.." Cordelia said, hanging her head down in disappointment. She bit her lip a little then asked, "Robin, do you think I'm pretty?"

This question especially had Robin taken aback. Cordelia was by far one of the most beautiful girls he had ever met. All the guys in the Shepherds thought so as well, so Robin couldn't understand why she would ask such a thing. Robin smiled and nodded his head as he answered, "Of course Cordelia. You're beautiful."

"Then why doesn't he ever notice me?" Cordelia asked as she leaned the javelin against her shoulder and looked in to the warm fire.

"You mean Chrom? Why do you want him to notice you?" Robin asked then paused. His eyes widened in realization and he quickly blurted out, "Cordelia! Do you like Chrom?"

"Shhh!" Cordelia hushed him, quickly putting a hand over his mouth but then nodded with a blush and replied, "Yes, but no matter what I do I can't seem to get Chrom to notice me."

"Oh I see, well if you want I could talk to Chrom for you." Robin offered, trying simply to be a good friend even though that was the last thing Cordelia would want.

"No, you can't! Although…." Cordelia thought aloud but then hesitated.

"Although what, Cordelia?" Robin asked.

"Well, it's just that you're..so good at coming up with tactics and strategies so do you think maybe you could help me come up with a strategy to help me catch Chrom's eye?" Cordelia asked.

"Hmm, I guess I could try. I mean, I can at least try to find out what Chrom's type is and then go from there." Robin offered even though his knowledge of romance was limited.

"Thank you, Robin. I feel so silly asking for your help with something like this. I guess I've spent so much time training throughout the years that I forgot to learn certain things like this." Cordelia said sheepishly.

"It's alright; I'm not actually an expert either. Although, I'm not sure if anyone can be an expert when it comes to romance and relationships, but I just thought of an idea. Sumia has a lot of romance books, so maybe we could use those for reference to get some ideas for how you could attract Chrom."

"Oh! That's a terrific idea, Robin. But we have to make sure to borrow the books at different times of the day so that it doesn't seem suspicious." Cordelia mentioned.

"No problem. I'm already borrowing a book from Sumia that I recently finished. I can use that as a good excuse to ask for another one. I'll also talk to Chrom but make it as subtle as possible." Robin said.

Cordelia smiled brightly and said, "Alright, that sounds wonderful. Together we're going to make Chrom fall in love with me."

Later on that day Robin walked in to Sumia's tent and greeted her as he handed her back the adventure novel she had lent to him. "So would you like to check out any other books from the Sumia library?" Sumia asked curiously.

"Actually I was, do you mind if I take a look through your collection?" Robin asked.

"Of course, go ahead and help yourself." Sumia said as she stepped out. Robin walked over to the trunk where Sumia had kept her books and began to curious rummage through them, looking for anything with a romantic sounding title. Eventually he found one titled 'The amnesiac and the dark mage'.

For the rest of the day, whenever Robin had a bit of free time he would pull out the small novel and start to thumb through the pages, quietly reading to himself. Of course, he wasn't reading as one would usually read a romance novel. He was reading it as a means of research in to the ways people could fall in love with one another. It didn't seem like that complex of a thing. Two people of the opposite sex would spend time together and then start to form a bond. It seemed so simple in theory.

Robin didn't notice that he was slowly becoming more and more interested in the romance book the more he read of it. He'd be walking about the camp, going from place to place with it open in his hand as he read. This didn't turn out too well for Robin though for he ended up running right in to Frederick and dropping the book down on to the ground. Frederick picked it up off the ground and casually glanced over what had been holding the tactician's interest in such away. Once Frederick understood what kind of book it was he looked at Robin strangely without saying a word before letting out a low sigh and handing over the book. Robin now felt quite embarrassed and quickly stuffed the book in to his jacket, and that was the last time anyone saw him reading it out in the open again. Embarrassment aside, Robin was starting to think up a few ideas in that head of his.

Later on that night Cordelia popped in to Sumia's tent to say goodnight but then started talking about books. "Well you see, I've been having trouble sleeping that past few nights so I was wondering if I could borrow one of your books." Cordelia requested.

"Oh sure, what kind of book were you looking for? Maybe I could give you some suggestions." Sumia offered as she began to remove her armor and set it to the side to prepare for bed.

"Well, I was wondering if you had anything…romantic." Cordelia asked, a small shade of pink appearing on her cheeks.

"Romantic? I think there are a few really good ones in here." Sumia said as she walked over to the trunk where she stored her books and opened it up. Cordelia walked over to her friend and looked in as well.

"Oh, what about this one?" Cordelia asked as she pulled out a book titled 'A Thief for an Heiress'. "It sounds interesting."

"Oh….so you were wanting a book like that." Sumia said in surprise but then smiled a little and added, "If that's the one you want then go ahead….have fun, Cordelia."

"Alright, well thank you Sumia. Good night." Cordelia said. She was wondering why Sumia had said 'have fun' the way she had.

Meanwhile in Chrom's tent, Robin was looking over a map of the deserts in Plegia. "So you see, there have been a lot of reports of bandits attacking people going through this area." Chrom said.

"And this is right in the route we have to go, correct? If so then we need to prepare ourselves for an ambush." Robin mentioned and began to slowly move about the pieces that represented their forces. "Our cavalry we'll be at a disadvantage in the sand so we can't send them out to scout ahead. Therefore I think we should keep them and the rest of our armored forces on the periphery as a means to absorb any blows by the bandits, and keep the rest of our forces in close for protection. Then we can send out our mages and archers to counter any attack, regardless of the enemy's positions."

"I see, but why not send out our Pegasus Knights to scout for us?" Chrom asked.

"Well you said they were using ambush tactics. That makes me think there could be a significant amount of archers in their group. We'd be sending Sumia and Cordelia in to a potential death trap." Robin explained. "fact, I think it would be best if we kept her in close to you so that she can protect you as well as relay what she sees from the skies. I'm sure you wouldn't want anything to happen to Cordelia."

"No of course not. She's a great solider and I know you two are close, Robin. Of course, I wouldn't want anything to happen to any of our own." Chrom replied.

"Well then, I think that's everything for tonight. I'm going to retire for the night and you should do the same Chrom." Robin said then paused and added, "So Chrom if you don't my asking, what would you say your type is when it comes to women. You know, man to man."

Chrom chuckled a little and said, "That's a rather strange and sudden thing for you to ask, but I think I know what this is about."

"Y-you do?" Robin said in surprise.

"Yes, and I think she's a very fine young woman." Chrom said with a smile on his face.

"Really? I was under the impression you didn't pay her much mind." Robin said in surprise.

"Well this really has nothing to do with me, now does it? Anyways I think you and Cordelia will make a wonderful couple. When we get back to Ylisse, you two should take a day to spend some time together, just the two of you." Chrom said then yawned a little. "I think I'll take your advice and turn in for the night. Good night Robin."

Robin was about to say something but held his tongue, merely letting out a small, "Good night Chrom. Sleep well." Robin exited Chrom's tent and made his way towards his own. That hadn't gone at all like he had planned. Chrom had been completely off and didn't even answer Robin's question. Robin couldn't believe that Chrom actually thought he had feelings for Cordelia. It was true, the two of them had become good friends but that was all they were. It wasn't as if Robin was appalled by the idea. After all Cordelia was smart, talented, beautiful, and had one of the warmest and most caring personalities of all the Shepherds. Any guy would be crazy not to be attracted by Cordelia.

Meanwhile Cordelia had curled up in to her cot after putting away her armor and was slowly opening up the book that she had borrowed for Sumia. It started pretty normally at first and Cordelia was looking forward to a sweet and emotional love story, however what she found was that the book was far more…erotic than she expected. Now she understood what Sumia had meant when she said 'have fun'. The longer Cordelia read along, the redder her cheeks became from sheer embarrassment. Cordelia told herself that she would read up to an ending point and then put the book away for the night. She didn't know how much of this embarrassment she could handle. It turned out that the ending point came with the end of the book.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a cold day and the wind was howling through the mountains, making the young dark haired girl shiver every time the frigid wind his against her, her two hair ties blowing behind her. Her teeth chattered a little as she walked along the mountain path, following the Shepherds' trail. She had a look of pure misery and frustration on her face. "This was a great idea Severa, you idiot! Why couldn't you just stay in Ylisse and wait for them!?" Severa said out loud to herself as she wrapped her arms around her torso, trying to warm up. Soon Severa had arrived at a small mountain village. She quickly started to question the villagers, asking if they had seen the Shepherds for they were supposed to be passing through this area. Severa found out that the Shepherds had already left that morning. Severa let out a heavy sigh and started back on her way; she was starting regret not becoming a pegasus knight back when she had the chance.

Elsewhere the Shepherds were moving at a steady pace as they made their way through the kingdom, keeping up regular patrols just in case there were problems with bandits or Risen in one of the isolated villages. The group had stopped at a nearby river well in to the midday to give the horses and other animals a chance to get water and a small rest. Sumia was brushing her pegasus' mane when Cordelia walked up to her and said, "Here you are Sumia…umm you could have warned me about this book beforehand."

Sumia saw the novel in Cordelia's hands and giggled a little, "I'm sorry, I thought you knew what it was. But…you're returning it to me after one night. You must have found it to be a quite a page turner, hm?"

"It was definitely….surprising. But I really want to return it now." Cordelia said and handed off the book, happy to get rid of it. That book had made her feel dirty to say the least.

"I'll take that as you got your enjoyment out of it." Sumia commented with a smile that was far too innocent.

A blush came across Cordelia's cheeks that was the same shade as her hair. "Please don't insinuate things. You're embarrassing me!" she exclaimed.

"Hehe, I was only joking. Now, would you like to borrow another of my books? Oh! I have a really interesting one that takes place..." Sumia began but was then briefly cut off.

"No! That's alright, I think I've had more than enough of those kinds of stories for a long long time." Cordelia quickly said and then walked off.

"Huh, she sure is acting weird today." Sumia said but then brushed it off and put the book away.

It didn't take long for Robin to walk in to Sumia's tent as well to return the book he had borrowed the day before. "Here you go, Sumia. Thank you for letting me borrow it." Robin said.

"Oh wow, you read the whole thing last night? This is a long one too. You must read really fast, Robin. I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from our genius tactician." Sumia said with a small smile then asked, "So, did you like the book?"

"To be honest, a lot of it went over my head. I'm not used to reading these kinds of books." Robin told her and then said goodbye, walking out of her tent.

"Hm, seems like a lot of people are getting bitten by the love bug. Hehe, I wonder if anyone will start asking me for love fortunes." Sumia pondered out loud happily.

Robin set about to his usual daily routine with the Shepherds, all the while he thought over the romance book he had studied the night before. Unlike Cordelia, he had merely skimmed through the most of the book, trying to get the main points to figure out how exactly people 'fell in love'. It didn't seem too hard. From what Robin could tell, people tended to fall in love if they were able to spend a lot of time together, especially if they were alone. But therein laid Robin's main problem with trying to get Chrom to notice Cordelia, they were always with the other Shepheds. There was rarely a time when Chrom wasn't accompanied by Frederick, Lissa, or even Robin. Robin was starting to think that he may have bitten off a tad more than he could chew when he agreed to help Coredlia out. He knew he couldn't think like that though. Cordelia was his friend and he promised to help her out. He didn't like seeing her so sad.

Robin was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder from behind. Coredlia had walked up behind Robin. The two of them started to walk side by side as Coredlia asked in a low voice, "So umm, how was it? Have you come up with any ideas?"

"Well, I may have learned a few things but it's still pretty foggy. The only thing that I can think of is to try to get you and Chrom to spend more time together to bond. But unfortunately I think that will prove to be rather difficult. The other Shepherds are always around, and Chrom is usually busy whenever we're at camp." Robin said and then followed up by asking, "What about you Cordelia? Did you learn very much from your book? I was hoping that you would understand a bit more since you're a girl after all."

"What did I learn? Uh…" Coredlia blushed and quickly looked away in embarrassment. "N-nothing! I didn't learn anything."

"Oh, well that's unfortunate. Hmm, perhaps I could look at the book you borrowed from Sumia and see if I could come up with some ideas from it." Robin suggested.

"No! Please don't do that no matter what!" Cordelia exclaimed.

"Oh..well alright. Hmm…" Robin paused, thinking to himself. Robin looked over when he noticed Sully and Stahl sitting together nearby. The two of them had recently become a couple after Stahl proposed to Sully. They seemed like a perfectly happy couple to Robin. After all, they spent a lot of time together since they were the Shepherds' cavalry divison. The two of them often fought side by side. It was then that a light went off inside Robin's head and said, "That's it!"

"What's it?" Cordelia asked, curious to know what had caused the young tactician's sudden burst of enthusiasm.

"I've figured it out Cordelia. The best way to get you and Chrom together is to have the two of you fight together on the battlefield. Think about it Cordelia, Stahl and Sully spent a lot of time together when we fight and now they're getting married. They formed a bond as they fought together. It's almost as if the more the Shepherds fight together, the more the supportive they become of each other." Robin explained.

Cordelia thought about it for a moment, a little hesitant to the idea. It seemed almost a little too simple. Cordelia looked over at Stahl and Sully. They had spent a lot of time together during their battles and were indeed now engaged even though they seemed to have completely opposite personalities. She supposed it was at least worth a try. Cordelia looked to Robin and asked, "So then, I guess you're thinking of having me and Chrom work together more during our battles? It sounds like a good idea but are you sure it will work with Chrom and me? What if we're unable to make a bond together in the same way Stahl and Sully were?"

"Oh come on! I'm sure it will work." Robin said positively and added, "I mean, why would you not be able to make a bond with Chrom when others can?"

"Well alright then, I guess we can give it a try." Cordelia said with a nod.

"Yeah, and with me as the Shepherd's tactician, I can use our strategies to make sure it happens." Robin said with a small smile on his face.

Unknown to Robin and Cordelia, they were being watched. Sumia and Chrom had noticed the two spending a rather lot of time together. "What do you suppose they're talking about?" Chrom asked Sumia curiously.

"I don't know, maybe they're discussing the two romance books they borrowed last night." Sumia suggested.

"Romance books? Huh, that sounds unusual for Robin. Hehe, I suppose is trying to learn a few things for Cordelia's sake." Chrom said with a small grin on his face.

"Huh? What do mean?" Sumia asked.

"You haven't noticed? Our little Robin has himself a huge crush on Cordelia." Chrom explained, still under the false impression that their conversation the other night about Cordelia had been about Robin's feelings.

"Oh really? That's great because it's obvious that Cordelia feels the same way. I think she's been lonely since she joined the Shepherds." Sumia mentioned.

"Lonely? There are so many of us around all the time. How can she be lonely?" Chrom asked.

"Hehe, not lonely that way. Lonely as in…well the book she borrowed last night was." Sumia paused and leaned in to Chrom and whispered in to his ear. The young prince's eyes went wide and he blushed a deep red.

"Oh uh…I see…" Chrom stuttered.

"Yep, and that's why we should try to set those two crazy kids up together." Sumia said with happily.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Chrom agreed.

The Shepherds were moving ever closer to their destination. They were prepared to find the bandits who had been ambushing travelers on the road as well as causing problems for the local villages. It didn't take long for the marching Shepherds start to notice shadowy figures sneaking around about the nearby rock formations. Soon there were arrows being shot at them by archers and the battle had begun. Robin quickly started to call out strategic commands to the various different Shepherds. They sent their Cavaliers out to make a preemptive strike while the armored division marched forward being led by Frederick and took the brunt of the arrow attacks that simply bounced off their heavy armor for the most part.

Throughout the entire battle, Robin had Chrom and Cordelia paired up together. Once the archers were taken out, he suggested that Chrom and Cordelia do sweeping runs against the enemy from high above. Robin thought things were going incredibly well. Chrom and Cordelia were having a nice romantic fly through the air on a Pegasus while killing bandits. If that wasn't a bonding moment, Robin didn't know what was.

Meanwhile Severa was panting as she ran up to the top of a nearby hill. She had been following after the Shepherds all day and felt like she was about to die of exhaustion. They could have at least slowed down a little and waited for her after she went through all the trouble to come back in time with Lucina and the others to help them save the future. Severa reached the top of the hill and then stopped for a breath; she was crouched over with the palms of her hands braced against her knee caps. She took several moments to try to catch her breath, coughing every now and then. Severa took a final few deep breaths before standing up straight and looking out at the battlefield before her. "I…I finally caught up to them…" Severa said happily between huffs.

Severa looked over the battlefield, trying to pick out her parents amidst all the chaos. Severa looked up in the air to see her mother along with a passenger. Severa smiled a little, figuring that it was obviously her father riding along as they worked together like a good couple. But Severa's smile soon turned sour once she saw the tuff of blue hair on the main, realizing that it was Chrom. Severa let out a small huff; of course it'd be her precious Chrom. Severa chose to ignore that for the moment however and quickly made her way in to the heart of the battle, cutting down several bandits along her way.

Severa gasped when she saw a bandit sneaking up behind Robin with a sword. "Look out!" she exclaimed as she rushed forward, vaulting over a few fallen enemies before striking down the bandit just as he was about to run his blade in to Robin's back.

Robin was stunned by the sudden entrance of this unknown girl. "What the…who are you? You're not with the bandits?" He asked her.

Severa looked over at her father in surprise and replied, "Who me? Of course not! D-don't be stupid. I'd never be some lousy bandit, and I just saved your life. You're the Shepherds, right? I want to join you."

"Serena? Nice to meet you." Robin replied, mishearing her as he grabbed his tone and fired a magic attack at a charging bandit on a horse.

"No! It's Severa." She replied quickly, feeling annoyed that her own father would get her name wrong.

'Severa? Hm, that's a strange name. What were her parents thinking?' Robin thought quietly to himself, fighting off more bandits with the rest of the Shepherds. Robin replied to the girl, "Oh, Severa. Well, we're kind of busy at the moment, but you seem experienced with a sword so I'm sure Chrom would love to have you join us."

After the battle, Severa introduced herself to the rest of the Shepherds but didn't mention anything about her being from the future. She hadn't seen any of the other children who had come to the past so she figured it would be for the best if she didn't say anything about it for the time being. Now that the bandits had been taken care of, the Shepherds decided to rest for the night and then set out back to the capital the following morning. Once things had died down a little, Severa searched out her mother. When she found her, she quickly struck up a conversation with her. Her mother started by welcoming her to the Shepherds.

Cordelia tried her best to be polite and kind to the girl who was obviously a couple of years younger than herself and was quickly surprised that the girl seemed to somehow know Cordelia. When Cordelia asked Severa about it, the young girl from the future quickly waved it off by saying that she had heard a lot about Cordelia from her exploits. About how she was such a great warrior and how she had heard about everyone thought she was so perfect. There was a tinge of bitterness in Severa's voice and Cordelia was a little put off the new girl's rather tense and apprehensive attitude towards her. Cordelia was wondering if she had said or done something already to earn herself ill favor with this new addition to the forces. Cordelia quickly thought of something to say in an attempt to get on a better foot. She said, "So, I heard that you helped save Robin, our tactician, from a bandit who snuck up behind him during the battle today. He's a truly dear friend of mine so I wanted to thank you so much for looking out for him."

"A friend huh? Is that all?" Severa asked curiously as her eyes darted down to Cordelia's left hand, where she noticed that there was a certain piece of jewelry that was mysteriously missing from the young Pegasus Knight's finger.

Cordelia noticed Severa looking down a little and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"I just noticed that you didn't have a ring on your finger. I would have imagined that the perfect Cordelia would have already caught the eye of some man by now." Severa said, lying through her teeth.

Cordelia blushed a little at this rather forward comment and said, "Well umm…no, not exactly. Athough…there is someone that I do rather like."

"Oh really?" Severa asked, her tone showing a piqued sense of curiosity as she said, "Tell me about him." What followed only worked to upset Severa as her mother started to describe, not her father, but Chrom. Severa's eyes narrowed and she bit her lip out of frustration and abruptly broke off the conversation.

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><p>Sorry folks. I know it's been a long time since my last update but I've been busy with a lot of professional related stuff going on as well as a bad string of writer's block and other projects going on at once. Normally I would reply to every review one by one but unfortunately I am short of time at the moment. I know that one person asked about when this taking place within the context of the story. It's taking place between the time skip after Gangrel is killed but before when the game itself picks back up. That way I could focus on the fanfic without having to weave in the game's timeline. Anyways I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I've been working on it off and on for a while now. As always leave a review or comment if you'd like and I'll update again as soon as possible. Thanks again for reading and I apologize for there being such a gap in time between the updates.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

I know it's been forever since I updated this, and to be honest I wasn't sure if I was going to. But I'm in a better place than where I was a year ago and now I feel like I can get back to writing. To be honest I had my long time laptop completely die on me and I lost all of my files. Years or work and stories gone. One of the files lost was an almost complete third chapter for this, thus why I was reluctant to pick things back up. Enough of all that though, I apologize for the wait so here's the next chapter.

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><p>"Good work everyone, I know the past couple of weeks have been hard on all of us. We've marched long hours every day and fought back the bandits from our border villages. Our pace was grueling and the battles were hard fought, but now I am happy to report that we'll be heading back to Ylisstol early tomorrow morning. We'll get a good night's sleep tonight, break camp and eat our breakfast as we march. That way we will be back home by nightfall tomorrow." Chrom announced to all of the Shepherds and received thunderous hurrahs as his response.<p>

With that all of the Shepherds sat down around their camp to enjoy a well earned dinner after fighting back all of the bandits from the area. The villagers had received the Shepherds as their honored guests and were now holding a large feast in the village square in their honor as gratitude. The shepherds all sat together outside at long wooden tables. Chrom raised his glass and offered a toast to the villagers for their hospitality to which all of the Shepherds did the same. Cordelia smiled, proudly raising her cup as she stared at her prince with adoration. "Look at him, he's the perfect captain and prince. I'd gladly follow him anywhere." Cordelia said quietly to herself.

"Yeah, I bet you would." Cordelia heard a voice say next to her and looked to her side to see the newest member of the Shepherds, Severa, sitting beside her and rolling her eyes. "Chrom Chrom Chrom. He's all you ever talk about. I swear I don't know what you see in the man. He's just some spoiled prince."

"Severa! Mind your tongue. He is our leader, and our prince. You have no right saying such things. And he's a great man, and he's not spoiled at all. How can you not see all of his wonderful traits?" Cordelia asked in confusion after scolding her in a whispered voice.

"Alright fine, I still don't see why you'd be interested in him as a man. He seems liked he'd be a complete bore in a relationship. He's all wrong for you anyways." Severa commented before eating a few bites from her fork.

"How would you know that, Severa? I know that you told me you had heard of me by reputation, but we have only recently met. How could you possibly knew what kind of man is right for me?" Cordelia asked, becoming curious as to why this newcomer seemed to have such a profound interest in her. In fact, Cordelia had noticed the younger girl often tagging along behind her. Cordelia didn't mind though, Severa was rough around the edges but Cordelia felt that she was actually a really nice girl inside. Plus she didn't seem to mean any harm.

"I can just tell these things about people, that's all. There's also way better guys around here for you as well." Severa said simply.

"Do you not like the idea of me and Chrom together for some reason, Severa? Oh! Could it be that you're secretly carrying a torch for our prince?" Cordelia asked, a small smile on her face.

Severa had been drinking water from her cup when Cordelia said that which made her involuntarily spit out her drink. The idea that she would be interested in Lucina and Cynthia's dad was just gross. Severa could never stand the way her mother always went on and on about Chrom, even back when Severa was a child. It always seemed to Severa that her mother was being unfaithful to her father; but now that Severa knew that they weren't married yet it seemed like Cordelia was cheating on her papa. She coughed a little and looked over at her mother and said, "What? It's not like that at all. I just don't think you two are compatible and that you're always making eyes at him…..besides, I don't want to be Lucina's little sister…"

Cordelia couldn't help but laugh a little at the girl's reaction but then immediately apologized. Everyone had taken notice of them after Severa's outburst so Cordelia made sure to speak quietly so that no one else could overhear their conversation, "I'm so sorry Severa. What was that last part you said? You spoke really softly just now."

Severa sighed and looked away and replied, "Nothing. It wasn't anything important. Just talking to myself actually."

"I see, so you said you thought there were other men in the Shepherds that were better for me. Like who?" Cordelia asked, a small smile on her face. This was nice, Cordelia liked being able to talk about her crush to another girl. Sumia was her dear friend, but Cordelia could never tell her about her feelings for Chrom since she knew that Sumia was also holding a torch for their prince.

"What about Robin? You two seem pretty close and get along really well. I bet you two have tons of things in common. Yep, I think you two would make a perfect couple. In fact, once we get back to the city you two should start going out at once, get married, and have two daughters…..not that I care or anything." Severa said, crossing her arms over her chest and nodding with confidence.

"Well that's…..rushing things, don't you think?" Cordelia said in surprise.

"Rushing? Depends on the time." Severa answered, knowing that her mother would have no idea what she meant by that.

"Well I can assure you that Robin and I are friends, and nothing more. But please don't take that the wrong way, Robin is truly dear to me. He's one of my two true friends. In fact, he's trying to help me get Chrom to notice me. That's just how great of a friend he is." Cordelia said happily with a small smile.

"You…you can't do that!" Severa exclaimed and jumped up from her seat, her hands crashing down on to the table which made everyone's heads shoot up and stare. Severa felt everyone staring at her and became embarrassed but did her best to hide it. She looked up sharply before walking off and said, "I'm done so now I'm going to bed."

Severa retired to her tent and began to pace back and forth once she had closed up the flap. This wasn't good, she couldn't let her father push her mother and Chrom together. If that happened then what would happen to her? Would she disappear? Would her hair color magically change to Chrom's? What would happen to Morgan, and for that matter where in the world was Morgan? The two sisters had come through the portal together so they should have come out at the same place, at least that was how it should have worked. Severa didn't understand why time portals needed to be so annoying. Morgan, that was what Severa needed. Morgan had inherited their father's love for strategy so she could probably come up with some counter strategy to their father's strategy. Whereas Severa had to end up inheriting their mother's small chest, but that was a different topic for Severa to get annoyed at another night.

Severa then took a deep breath and tried her best to cool her head. From what Severa could tell her mother's feelings for the prince were entirely one-sided and Chrom already seemed to be quite close to his future wife, right on schedule. Maybe she was worrying for nothing and all of this would be meaningless. After all, while her father was a brilliant tactician those same talents couldn't possibly be applied to romance…could they? In the end Severa decided that it was too risky to leave things up to chance so she resolved to do everything in her power to keep her mother away from Chrom and to push her parents together. It was her duty as a daughter, and plus she didn't want to become Lucina's little sister even if it did mean becoming a princess.

The next morning the Shepherds all rose early and made quick work preparing to return home; they found the energy without effort at the thought of being able to sleep in their own beds. They were soon ready for the day long road ahead but were delayed when the village elder came to Chrom with a warning. He explained that the path through the mountains that the Shepherds were planning to take would send them through a pass where the bandits had been ambushing travelers before they had been driven out. The elder feared that the bandits who had fled might try to ambush the Shepherds in that pass for revenge. There was another way around the pass but it would take twice the time. Chrom had made a promise to the Shepherds though and intended to stick to it, but now they would be on their guard.

Robin had been standing nearby and overheard the entire thing. Chrom turned to his trusted advisor and asked, "What do you think Robin? What are our options?"

Robin thought for a moment and said, "If the bandits are there then they'll be expecting a large slow convoy in the pass. We'll send out a single scout to check on things."

"I see, then in that case I think you and Cordelia can go. You'll be able to see everything from the air and they won't be looking for you. This will also save us time if they're not waiting for us, and if they are then you'll be able to get the lay of the land devise a way to fight them." Chrom suggested, and Robin agreed. The Shepherds were on their way soon afterwards.

Sumia rode on the ground with her Pegasus near Chrom and commented, "Those bandits are tenacious. I can't believe they'd still try something after we almost wiped all of them out."

Chrom simply laughed a little under his breath and said in a quiet tone, "That was just a story that I asked the elder to say when Robin was around."

"What? Why would you do that?" Sumia asked in surprise.

"I made it up because I thought Robin would say what he did, so that way I could suggest he and Cordelia ride along together. I thought it might be nice for them to have some alone time." Chrom explained, making sure no one could overhear.

"Oh I see. Hehe, that's pretty sneaky, Captain." Sumia said and added, "It's perfect, a nice romantic ride together on a Pegasus through the skies in the mountains. That should get them nice and close."

"It certainly worked for me." Chrom said with a small smile which made Sumia blush.

The Shepherds were getting closer to the entrance to the pass; they would be there in a little more than an hour so Robin and Cordelia took off in to the skies to scout out the area.

Robin held on tightly to Cordelia's side once they were high up in the air. As they flew over the pass Robin looked down, his eyes scanning over every rock and shadow. He then called out, "I don't see anything. How about you, Cordelia?"

"Nothing, I think we're all in the clear. Good thing too, it will be nice to be back home for a little while. No battles for today." Cordelia called back over her shoulder.

"Speaking of which, how did things go being paired up with Chrom these past few days? Have you two started to become closer after fighting together all that time?" Robin asked curiously, speaking freely since they were alone. Cordelia's long red hair was blowing back in to Robin's face which made him have to turn his head a few times, but he couldn't help but notice how nice her hair smelled.

"Unfortunately not. We've exchanged a few words but that's the extent of it. I still don't feel like he's noticing me at all, at least not more than any of the other Shepherds." Cordelia said sadly.

"Really? I was so sure that would work. It seems like all of the other couples in the Shepherds have been finding each other that way. I don't understand why it isn't working. I mean, you're really beautiful and smart and strong. Chrom has to notice you." Robin said in surprise but then added, "Don't worry though, we can try something else. I'm not giving up. I promise, Cordelia."

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><p>I know this was a shorter chapter, but it was mostly to set up the next one and to have some fun humor. I hope everyone enjoyed this entry and as always please comment or review if you'd like and I should have the next chapter up before too long since I have a long weekend coming up. Happy Thanksgiving everyone (for everyone in the US that is).<p> 


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